Tyler Cavanaugh of Jamesville-DeWitt drives to the basket against Andy Drescher of Christian Brothers Academy in the second quarter of their game Friday night at J-D. The Red Rams won 59-56. (Jim Commentucci / The Post-Standard)

It took until the second half for the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball team to establish the tempo it wanted against arch-rival Christian Brothers Academy.

The Class A No. 1 state-ranked Red Rams trailed by a point at halftime, after the Brothers hit their jump shots and took the air out of the ball by working the 35-second shot clock.

But once the shots stopped falling after intermission, and J-D’s 6-foot-10 junior center Dajuan Coleman started pulling down rebound after rebound to ignite his team’s fast break, it was game over.

The Rams used a 15-0 run between the second and third quarters to roll to a 59-46 victory over the Brothers before a standing-room only crowd of more than 2,000 at Jamesville-DeWitt High School.

Pete Drescher, who scored 15 points in the second half, including two 3-point jumps and two-more conventional 3-point plays, led J-D with 17 points. Coleman had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Tyler Cavanaugh also had 14 points. Shakir Evans led the Brothers with 17 points.

The win improved J-D’s record to 6-0, 4-0 in the Freedom National Division. CBA fell to 5-2, 3-1.

“The momentum just shifted. We started playing our game and we started pushing the tempo,” Drescher said.

“What really happened is we just got rebounds and ran out,” he added.

J-D coach Bob McKenney said he emphasized to his team at halftime, when the Rams trailed 25-24, that they had to play better defense. The Rams junked the 2-3 zone they tinkered with in the first half and went straight man-to-man.

“We monkeyed around with the 2-3 for awhile in the first half, and I have regrets that we did that. ... They shoot it way too well,” McKenney said.

In the second half, McKenney thought the Rams did a “great job” switching to CBA’s shooters. CBA’s shots were just a little but tougher, and the Brothers were forced to throw up some shots in desperation as the shot clock expired.

“That’s what’s ultimately going to win you a championship, if you can defend,” McKenney said.

CBA coach Buddy Wleklinski thought the tempo was where his team needed it to be through the third quarter. J-D scored only nine points in the third quarter, but CBA only scored two.

“We just didn’t shoot it very well,” Wleklinski said, noting a seven-minute stretch when the Brothers failed to score. The shots we got were the same shots, shots that we can hit. But we didn’t.

“Our poor shooting created their offense,” Wleklinski added. “We missed. They got some breakouts. We need to play in the half court. We can’t keep up with them in a transition game.”

While CBA struggled offensively, Drescher took over. He hit jump shots. He ran the floor and got fastbreak lay-ups. He scored nine of his team’s first 11 points in the fourth quarter to ignite the Rams’ offense.

Coleman, too, played with much more passion in the second half after scoring eight points and pulling down six rebounds in the first 16 minutes. A quick shoving match and words with CBA center Greg Thomson appeared to get Coleman motivated.

“I’d say that’s true,” said Coleman, who moments after the exchange with Thomson slammed home a thunderous dunk.

“He was just on my back, so I had to get him off,” Coleman said.

As for Drescher, McKenney thinks the loss of guard Demetrius Mitchell to injury earlier this season has forced the junior to elevate his game.

“He’s just starting to realize he can be really good if he keeps after it,” McKenney said of Drescher. “He was huge tonight. He was all over the place — defending, and he had big, big, buckets.”